U.S. WOMEN'S AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 3, 2021

Rachel Kuehn

Westchester Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Heck of a round. 67, 5-under.

RACHEL KUEHN: Yeah.

Q. Give me your thoughts about how well you played today.

RACHEL KUEHN: I just played really consistently and had a little bit of luck, being honest with you. My misses were in the right spots, and skipped one across the water on 8.

Q. I heard that. That's two days in a row, right?

RACHEL KUEHN: No, no, just today.

Q. Just today?

RACHEL KUEHN: So, yeah, the putts seemed to go in today, and that's golf.

So I'm glad it all came together. Yeah, hopefully I can carry that into match play.

Q. Any particular part of the round where you kept the momentum going or made a key putt?

RACHEL KUEHN: Well, I think the par on 8, I had just come off a bogey off 7. Hit a good drive and not a great iron shot again, skipped across the water, and basically got up there and knocked a long putt in to save par to stop myself from going bogey-bogey, and that really got it going.

Q. Okay. Okay.

RACHEL KUEHN: But, yeah, I was able to kind of, yeah --

Q. What club did you hit in there?

RACHEL KUEHN: 5-iron.

Q. From how far?

RACHEL KUEHN: Oh, I don't know, 188 maybe.

Q. How long was the par putt?

RACHEL KUEHN: Maybe ten, twelve feet, somewhere in there.

Q. And what did you have on 18 to come in?

RACHEL KUEHN: I think it was 238 to the pin, I think.

Q. What did you hit?

RACHEL KUEHN: Hit a 3-wood. Got lucky and kind of hit it in the fairway and bounced right up onto the green.

So, yeah.

Q. So you're at 6-under. Looks like you might be medalist. It's been 13 years since a medalist has won, and it was an NCAA person that won it in '08, Amanda Blumenherst.

RACHEL KUEHN: Well, I can try.

Q. What are your thoughts about that? Some players love it, they embrace it; some players it's a bulls eye on your back and everyone wants to gun for you.

RACHEL KUEHN: Yeah, well, I think you get to this level and everyone can play, so you just got to take one match at a time and not take anything for granted.

If I do happen to be medalist and play 64 seed tomorrow, the seeding doesn't really mean anything at this level. Everyone can go out there and have a good round, and match play is having just a little bit of a better round than your opponent's.

Q. How about the conditions today? Not a lot of wind like yesterday; pretty comfortable temperatures; not a lot of humidity. How easy were the scoring conditions today?

RACHEL KUEHN: Well, the weather in New York has been perfect. I'm not sweating a drop. We had a nice breeze. But like you said, it wasn't too windy.

I think we lucked out with the draw that I got. I was morning yesterday, afternoon today, and it seemed today happened to be the less windy day in the afternoon.

So, good coincidence, I guess.

Q. Your mom was a two-time medalist in the Women's Mid and now you could be medalist in the Amateur. Is that a cool thing to put in the belt and talk about at the family dinner?

RACHEL KUEHN: I didn't know she had been medalist. Yeah, maybe.

Q. Not in this event.

RACHEL KUEHN: In the Mid-Am?

Q. Yeah.

RACHEL KUEHN: Again, I didn't know, but that is kind of cool.

Q. Yeah. How does this place stack up to some of the other championship venues you've played?

RACHEL KUEHN: This course is hard. It's playing pretty long. I think it's important to have some long, straight tee balls on this golf course to get yourself in position, because the greens are so firm that if you're hitting a long iron or hybrid or wood into it, it's really hard.

But if you can get yourself to where maybe you have a mid-iron, makes all the difference. But it's in perfect condition. The greenskeeper and the superintendant I'm sure have put so much work into it, because it's absolutely perfect.

We're just so fortunate to be able to play a course this pure and this beautiful.

Q. Does it help that it has the legacy with the tour people, everybody from Jack and Arnie to Inbee was the last pro to win here. Does that make it a more special week even?

RACHEL KUEHN: It's definitely really cool. Coming up to this week, you never want -- everyone in back in my home town, Oh, where is the Women's Am. Oh, Westchester. They're like, Oh, my gosh. I can't wait to hear all about it. Obviously it's so prestigious and so established, just the stories that you hear, and, you know, the plaque on 18 about the double eagle. It's just so cool.

And just the history here. To be able to put our names down with it is unbelievable.

Q. You missed match play at the North and South of played okay last week. What's the difference in your game maybe from Pinehurst to now?

RACHEL KUEHN: My ball striking definitely. This course is I think a ball-striker's course. If you can hit the middle of the fairways and greens you're bound to play well.

That just wasn't there for me in Pinehurst, and luckily I've been able to figure it out between then and now.